"In a typical fabrication, LiCl powder (0.32–0.82 g) is added into 10 mL HPC solution (0–2.0 wt%) forming solution A. The pH of solution A can be tuned by NaOH or HCl solution. 0.44 g KGM powder is added into solution A and quickly cast into the petri dish after vortex. The gelation takes place within 2 min, and sit in room temperature for 15 min. Then, the film is placed in the fridge (−4 °C) for 3 h followed by 15 min freeze in liquid nitrogen. Last, the gel film is ready to use after 12 h freeze-drying. The final LiCl concentration in SHPFs is characterized by TGA."
"Before the water vapor sorption measurement, all samples are dried in a vacuum oven at 90 °C for at least 2 h. "
- Fridge cooling
- liquid nitrogen bath
- 12h freeze drying
That doesn't sound low-cost / easy to manufacture.
That looks like you capture using a very cold, porus material (cold, dry sponge that collects dew, essentially), then heat this "sponge" so the water then travels up to a condenser which causes it to "dew" and run into a collection chamber.
It's not magic water-cloth, and I don't think it's a weekend project, but it's pretty low tech.
> The mesh netting is where the condensation of water droplets appear. It consists of filaments knitted together with small openings, coated with a chemical to increase condensation. Shade Cloth is used for mesh structure because it can be locally sourced in underdeveloped countries. The filaments are coated to be hydrophilic and hydrophobic, which attracts and repels water to increase the condensation.[1] This can retrieve 2% of moisture in the air. Efficiency increases as the size of the filaments and the holes decrease. The most optimal mesh netting is made from stainless steel filaments the size of three to four human hairs and with holes that are twice as big as the filament. The netting is coated in a chemical that decreases water droplet's contact angle hysteresis, which allows for more small droplets to form. This type of netting can capture 10% of the moisture in the air.[2]
I'm not sure, this looks like it can be done in a college chemistry lab without too much retooling. A dedicated factory process could be even stronger. Lithium is found and wasted wherever vapes are sold, so it's not like there aren't economies of scale for material supply available.
"Before the water vapor sorption measurement, all samples are dried in a vacuum oven at 90 °C for at least 2 h. "
- Fridge cooling
- liquid nitrogen bath
- 12h freeze drying
That doesn't sound low-cost / easy to manufacture.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2
Figure of test rig: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30505-2/figures/4
That looks like you capture using a very cold, porus material (cold, dry sponge that collects dew, essentially), then heat this "sponge" so the water then travels up to a condenser which causes it to "dew" and run into a collection chamber.
It's not magic water-cloth, and I don't think it's a weekend project, but it's pretty low tech.
What did I get wrong? I'm sure there's something.